Bowdoin Rowing

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Textile River Regatta 2016

As fall begins to set in up here in Maine, the Bowdoin Navy completed its first race of the year! The team traveled down to Lowell, MA to race with over 70 other colleges, high schools and clubs at the Textile Rive Regatta. Even through cloudy and overcast skies, the team shone and brought back plenty of hardware. Safe to say it was a promising start to the season!

The Navy entered 13 boats in 8 entries, earning 9 medals: 2 gold, 2 silver, and 5 bronze. Our team showed terrific depth as the Novice Women’s four took first and third, the Novice Men’s Eight took third, and the Lightweight Men’s Four took the gold. The team continued their success streaks into the afternoon with the Varsity Men’s Four taking second and fourth, and the Varsity Women’s Fours taking third, fourth and fifth. In the small boats, our singles took third and sixth, and the pair got third.

As always, we loved seeing our parents and alumni! Thank you to all who brought food and cheered from the sidelines. Thank you also to our wonderful alumni who came to support and race as well. We had alumni racing in the Club Singles and for Riverside Boat Club, as well as refereeing for US Rowing

Here’s to a fast season ahead! Look for us next in Worcester, MA racing at the Quinsigamond Snake Regatta on October 15.

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Clark Invitational and Knecht Cup 2016

On April 2nd, Bowdoin boats swept the Clark Invitational Regatta! Then we had a pretty cold week up here in Maine. This was for the best, though, considering the conditions we were about to face in New Jersey. The Bowdoin Navy withstood some crazy weather this past Saturday at the Knecht Cup, but, as one of our alumni said, the wind and sleet were merely a “calm day on the New Meadows”. Still, every boat managed to advance to either the Grand or Petite Finals!

Sunday’s races allowed Bowdoin to rake in five medals, and our other two boats finished top-three in their events.

In the Grand Final events, the women’s varsity A and B won gold and silver medals, respectively; the men’s varsity A and B won gold and bronze medals, respectively; and the men’s novice A won bronze. In the Petite Finals events, the women’s novice A came in second and the men’s novice B came in third. It was a nice feeling to come away from a day of racing where every single Bowdoin boat finished top three! Great job, Bears.

Thanks to all the families and alums who brought food and dogs and companionship to our trailer! And also a big thank you to the families who provided a much-needed rest stop on the way back up to Bowdoin. Everyone is safe and sound, ready to rig and get back to work this week.

Next up, the UMass Lowell Invitational on Saturday and the President’s Cup on Sunday.

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Camp Bob 2016

Day 3 Greetings from South Carolina! Thanks to a series of late flights and some car trouble, it took us a little while to get everyone here, but we all made it! It’s been brilliantly sunny and about 80 degrees every day so far, except for a quick 30 minute blast of a thunderstorm on Sunday afternoon. The heat has definitely been a shock to the system, even after our warm Maine winter, but most of us are trying to soak in as much vitamin D as we can while we’re here.

The food at camp is significantly better this year, which has been an exciting plot twist for us. That being said, we definitely appreciated the delicious catered barbecue that was put together by the lovely Nancy Riley tonight! Pulled pork, barbecue chicken, rice and beans, baked mac and cheese, cobbler, and sweet tea… one can’t complain!

Practice has been going well, too. We’ve had lots of side switches for the rowers and lots of time in different boats for coxswains. We may be a little rusty, but it’s so good to be back at it again. Looking forward to a fast spring.

Will keep you posted re: alligator sightings.

Day 8 The first races of the season were completed on Thursday and Friday of last week. The first varsity women, first novice women, and first novice men all won their pieces, and we had some close finishes across the board in the other events.

A group of novice men spotted some serious alligators the other day at practice. No one was eaten. See Doug’s Instagram @sustainableathlete for pix.

Yesterday was our annual trip into Charleston. Camp Bob’s limp potatoes, fried chicken, and iceberg lettuce were replaced by she-crab soup, fried green tomatoes, and many, many pigs worth of barbecue.

We had to part ways with Hide, one of our newest rowers, at the Charleston airport, but also got to welcome back two of our seniors, Martin and Julia. They’ll be thrown into the mix for our last week here. Approximately 200 other schools just showed up at Camp Bob this morning, too, so we’ll see how that goes!

Not to jinx anything, but we’ve been incredibly lucky with weather so far. The thunderstorms we anticipated in Charleston yesterday turned out to be a couple of grey clouds at worst, and today, the coldest day yet, is still around 50 degrees.

Day 11 Thank you so much to all of the amazing people out there who have sent us care packages! Crazy how fast this second week is going by.

Still 75 degrees and sunny most of the time, except for some chilly mornings. We hear you got some snow up in Maine…

More races lined up for tomorrow. Let’s go black!

Day 13 The final day has come!

The whole fleet made it out onto the water this morning for the famous Potato Creek Scramble, an epic 500 m mixed line-up dash. Coxswain Elena “Baby G” Gleed won the gunwale race by a landslide.

By now, all of our boats are packed up and ready for the trip home. Coachie, Edie, Doug, and two little carpools of roadtrippers have already departed. Drive safe, kids! The rest of us will hop on a bus to the Charleston airport at 3 am tomorrow.

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The Textile River Regatta 2015

The leaves have barely started turning and we’ve already got our first race under our belts… sort of. The Textile this year was one unlike any other in recent history.

For the Bowdoin Navy, it included just as many non-races as it did races. The gentle breeze that kicked us into gear early Sunday morning ended up kicking us off the water by early afternoon.

Our novices, scullers, and club fours returned from mighty voyages down the Merrimack River with stories of being “slaughtered” by the waves and trying to dodge buoys that had drifted all around the course, yet all crews pulled through with remarkable spirit.

Our first novice men’s boat came in fifth in their event with a time of 25:30, with the second novice men’s boat following closely behind with 28:36. The first novice women earned second place with an impressive 28:36!

Next up was the men’s recreational single sculling event, which was demolished by our very own Lucian Black with a time of 28:25.

In the men’s club fours event, our third varsity boat came in eighth with a time of 23:32 after a penalty. Several course marker buoys had moved around in the tumultuous waves, so many crews were getting penalized left and right for “skipping” them. A similar thing happened to our women’s third varsity boat. Despite the odds, they had a great race with an adjusted time of 28:44!

By the time 1 pm rolled around, three more men’s boats and two more women’s boats were sitting pretty at the start line, ready to take a stab at it. 

The Merrimack had other plans…

Several boats had already flipped downriver due to the nasty conditions, and race officials deemed the whole project unsafe for the rest of us. In an exciting and thoroughly unsystematic manner, about thirty boats of all different sizes made a beeline (“paddling”) back to the dock.

Thankfully, all our rowers, coxswains, and equipment made it back safe and sound, albeit damp. Land ho!

This weekend, we take on the Quinsigamond Snake Regatta and, after that, the Chahhhles River! Stay tuned with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@bowdoinrowing).

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Fall Fun

Fall Season is underway with a great squad of returning rowers and a full group of novices. The weather on the coast of Maine has been spectacular and crews are taking advantage of it mornings and afternoons.

Racing begins with the Textile River Regatta on Oct. 5 in Lowell, MA, followed by the Quinsigamond Snake on Oct. 11. We have 3 crews in the College Four and 2 alumni boats racing in the Club Four at the Head of The Charles on Oct. 18. Come join us at the water!

Family Weekend begins Oct. 31 and we will have an event at the Boathouse to introduce parents and siblings to the boats and oars. Stay tuned for details!